Workforce Programs Manager

Employer description

Hadrian - Manufacturing the FutureHadrian is building autonomous factories to reindustrialize America. By combining AI, advanced software, robotics, and full-stack manufacturing, we help aerospace and defense companies build rockets, satellites, aircraft, ships, and other mission-critical systems up to 10x faster and at significantly lower cost.

Following our $1.37B Series D at a $7.87B valuation, Hadrian is rapidly expanding our manufacturing footprint, launching new capabilities across welding, casting, forging, electronics, additive manufacturing, and more, while scaling our Factory-as-a-Service platform to transform how critical products are built.

Backed by leading investors including JPMorgan Chase, Valor Equity Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund, 137 Ventures, Lux Capital, T. Rowe Price, and Morgan Stanley, we’re building the future of American manufacturing—and looking for exceptional people to help make it happen.

If you’re ready to take on the most challenging and rewarding work of your career while helping create American manufacturing jobs for generations to come, you’re exactly who we’re looking for.

The Role

Hadrian is building the most advanced manufacturing platform in the world. As we win new programs and stand up new factories, the workforce question gets decided early, usually before a contract is signed and almost always before anyone has validated whether the labor assumptions hold. Getting that wrong means delayed milestones, unmet contractual obligations, and a workforce that cannot ramp to meet production. Getting it right is a prerequisite for every program we take on.

We are looking for a Workforce Programs Manager to own the scoping of workforce for new Hadrian programs end to end. This is the person who sits with the sales and federal teams while a deal is still being shaped, reads the statement of work, and translates it into a labor model, a headcount plan, a training strategy, and a clear build-versus-partner decision. It is a new function. You are the first hire in it, and it is tied directly to our program and factory expansion roadmap.

You will build the labor models that tell us what a program actually costs in people. You will design the training strategy for capabilities we have never run before, including regulated programs like NAVSEA-compliant welder workmanship and new NDT certification tracks. You will own the framework for what Hadrian builds internally versus what we source through partners, and you will manage the institutional partnerships that follow from that decision. You will be the forward-looking input to the Workforce Development organization, working with the team on what is coming so they can scale ahead of demand instead of reacting to it.

The right person has been in the room where program commitments are made and understands what those commitments mean for the workforce before anyone else does. They are equally comfortable in a business development review with a prime contractor, building a headcount model in a spreadsheet, and walking a community college president through what a partnership would require. They default to building capability internally and treat partnerships as a deliberate tool, not a first response.

What You’ll Do

Program Workforce Scoping

Embed with the sales and federal teams during program pursuit to scope workforce requirements before commitments are finalized

Read and interpret statements of work, contract terms, and program milestones, and translate them into executable workforce plans

Identify the labor, training, and certification obligations a program creates, and surface the risks and gaps while there is still time to address them

Labor Modeling and Headcount Planning

Build labor models and headcount plans for new programs and capability expansions, covering Factory Technician, Weld Technician, and NDT Technician roles as well as the indirect and support headcount programs require

Validate that labor assumptions in deal and operational models are internally consistent and flow through to real headcount outputs

Own the workforce-cost view of a program and defend it to finance, operations, and program leadership

Training Strategy for New Capabilities

Design the training and certification strategy for capabilities Hadrian has not run before, including regulated programs such as NAVSEA welder workmanship and new NDT method tracks

Map external certification and audit requirements into the training plan so compliance is built in from the start

Define cohort timing, trainer ratios, and lead times from hire to certified, working backward from program readiness dates

Build-versus-Partner Strategy and Partnerships

Own the framework for determining whether a workforce need is best met by building internally or sourcing through an external partner, with a default toward insourcing

Manage the portfolio of institutional partnerships that follow from that decision, including community colleges, trade schools, universities, veteran programs, and high school pathways

Represent Hadrian in partner negotiations, MOU development, and ongoing relationship management, and hold partners to defined quality and output standards

Treat partnerships as foundational pre-employment pipeline tools, not a substitute for building Hadrian’s own capability

Workforce Org Readiness

Work closely with the Director of Workforce Development to ensure the Workforce organization is staffed and structured to scale with the program portfolio

Provide the forward-looking inputs the WFD org needs to hire, build curriculum, and stand up training operations ahead of program demand

Maintain visibility for internal stakeholders into the workforce pipeline across all active and pursued programs

What We’re Looking For

7+ years in workforce planning, labor modeling, program management, or business development, with demonstrated experience translating program or contract requirements into operational workforce plans

Background in or strong familiarity with manufacturing, defense, or government contracting environments

Track record of building headcount or labor models for new programs or capability expansions, where the output was an executable plan rather than a strategy document

Experience in customer-facing or federal program work, including interpreting a government SOW and presenting a workforce plan to a customer

A business and commercial mindset: you understand what Hadrian is signing up for when a deal closes, and you can quantify it

Strong cross-functional communication, with the ability to represent workforce realities to program and factory leadership and translate them back to institutional partners

Comfort operating where the playbook is still being written

Bachelor’s degree in Business, Engineering, Workforce Development, Public Policy, or a related field; advanced degree a plus; equivalent experience considered

What Will Set You Apart

Defense business development or proposal development experience with a workforce or labor component

Familiarity with NAVSEA, SUBSAFE, or similar regulated certification and audit frameworks

Experience standing up training programs in regulated manufacturing environments

Background in advanced or precision manufacturing

Experience with workforce development grants, government funding programs, or public-private partnerships

Familiarity with community college systems and dual-enrollment or early college program design

A genuine point of view on what manufacturing workforce development should look like for the next generation, grounded in what programs actually require rather than how it has always been done

Benefits for Full-time EmployeesMedical, dental, vision, and life insurance plans for employees

401k

Relocation support may be provided for certain situations, based on business need.

Flexible vacation policy

Equity

 ITAR RequirementsTo conform to U.S. Government space technology export regulations, including the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) you must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident of the U.S., protected individual as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3), or eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here.

 Use of AI in hiringHadrian uses AI-assisted tools in our recruiting and hiring processes to help our team work more efficiently. This may include tools that help organize and analyze recruiting data, as well as an AI-powered notetaker that can record and transcribe interviews and help coordinate feedback. These tools support our team and are not used to make hiring decisions. All candidate evaluations and hiring decisions are performed by humans. If an interview will be recorded, you will be notified in advance and may opt out at any time with no impact on your candidacy. Candidate data processed through these tools is subject to the same protections described in our Privacy Policy.

 Consideration of Criminal HistoryHadrian will consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with the requirements of all applicable laws. We do not ask about criminal history on our application, and we do not consider criminal history before making a conditional offer of employment.

 Hadrian Is An Equal Opportunity EmployerIt is the Company’s policy to provide equal employment opportunity for all applicants and employees. The Company does not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race inclusive of traits historically associated with race (including, but not limited to, hair texture and protective hairstyles, such as braids, locks and twists), color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), gender identity, gender expression, transgender status, national origin (including, in California, possession of a drivers license), ancestry, citizenship, age, physical or mental disability, height or weight, medical condition, family care status, military or veteran status, marital status, domestic partner status, sexual orientation, genetic information, exercise of reproductive rights, any other basis protected by local, state, or federal laws, or any combination of the above characteristics. When necessary, the Company also makes reasonable accommodations for disabled candidates and employees, including for candidates or employees who are disabled by pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions.